BUILDING UP THE PROVICE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2196, 8 July 1914, Page 11

BUILDING UP THE PROVICE

0-DAY delegates from local bodies scattered far and II ' wido through tho country *"* will meet in Wellington to discuss. works necessary for the development of tho province. Big schemes will como up for consideration, and in theso paces will bo found some account of tho principal works proposed and what tho.State's engineers havo said of their merits. ' Fow citizens of .Wellington havo an adequate knowledgo of tho possibilities of their province. No piopcr. idea of tho country can bo gained merely by travelling from .point to point along tho railways. Back from almost every lino thcro stretches a wide hinterland whose only bar to development is tho want of access to its markets. ' ■' Elsewhere in this issuo will bo found > a striking description of Wellington s country districts as they wcro almost exactly' forty years ago to tho day. Tho changes that bavo taken placo in tho intervening years havo been very groat.- But greater still should be thoso •which forty years henco will show over tho conditions of to-day. With proper moans of communication, and better farming methods, thero will bo room for country homesteads by tho thousand whero thcro aro now hundreds; In Pahiatua County, for instance, which is already closely settled, it is estimated that tho stumping and ploughing of tho holdings will at least double tho production of tho county. If such wealth as this lies dormant even in tho settled land of to-day, tho vast scopo for future development throughout the province becomes apparent. In a previous issue of Thf. Dominion it was pointed out that if tho 41 million acres of pastoral land between tho Main Trunk and ' Taranaki railways were stocked .to tho extent of a sheep and a half to tho acre, which is a conservative estimate of its carrying capacity, the Hocks of tho Dominion would bo : increased by one-half. That is but ono portion of the .big 1 hinterland awaiting development, and . tho ■ future holds 'equally as much in store on tho East Coast as on tho West. Tho principal railway schemes to bo considered by to-day's congress will bo tho deviation of tho railway over tho Kimntaka Incline, tho branch lino to Maryborough, tho various suggested methods of tapping tho back country l>ctwcen'Mastefton'iiri3'Wßipiikurau and tho sea. wast, and. tho Lovin-Greatford deviation, v Each of theso is fully dealt with in these pages, and tho arguments Bdduced in support- of tho various works will be found clearly sot out.' Opportunity has been taken to present our readers with somo account of tho development' of tho Pahiatua district, in the centre of tho old Forty Milo Bush, now only a memory. Tho progress of this district during tho past thirty years has been remarkable, and tho countryside has changed almost out of recognition since tho days of tho coach journey through tho bush of oven fifteen or sixteen years ago. Pahiatua's principal need to-day is better communication with tho coastal districts," and elsewhere reference will bo found to its arguments for a branch railway to Pongaroa and tho Akitio district. Tho vexed question- of roads aud tho now problems created by motor traffio aro reviewed on another page, and in lesponsc to a circular letter, tho engineers of most of the counties on tho two coasts t«ll how they aro meeting tho now difficulties confronting them. Refcrenco is- mado to tho many benefits to bo derived from motor traction iu opening up tho back country if suitable* roads can bo provided, and to tho desirability of tho I Government taking tho work in hand > and discovering exactly to what extent it is practicable to uso tho motor-wagon for tho development of' country not served by tho railroads. Maiiy other topics of interest connected with tho development of the province might have been touched upon had spaco boon available, such as tho, proposal for draining Lako Wairarapa, tho various deviations by which tho lino of tho Miinawalu railway could bo improved between Wellington and Waikniittc, the possibilities of tho different water-power Eihemcs, and so on almost indefinitely. An interesting discussion, for instance," will' no doubt be provoked at tho confereuco by tho following issues raised b;' tho I'eathorston Town Board and Waiohin© River Board hs uiidor:—(a) Shall the produce to and from tho port of Wellington hndwards be, carried over tho surrounding ranges , nr through them by tunnelling? (b) v Shall,tho Himutaka railway be donated by tunnelling through via the Wainui-o-mata or via Woodsidc? (t) Shall Wellington's real hinterland,-the East Coast runs, bo settled by small settlers by moans of a subdividing railway? (d) Shall such Easi Coast lino be constructed by private' enterprise (as the Wellington and Manawatu lino was made) under tho District Railways Act, 1803, or shall wo lean upon tho Government for trie work? (e) Shall a railway district bo declared east of *ho Ituamahanga to tho sea from Palliser Bay'.to Waipukur.iu, including t' lo wholo of tho Lonvr Wairarapa Lake lands, in order to strike a railway rato for tho construction of tho linor , (f) Shall tho Government be asked to guarantco a i per cent. £2,f.00,000 loan for tho work (as in Canada), upon tho security of the rate? (g) Shall a, private company bo forined exactly similar in its workings to the old Manawatu Company? (h)'Shall the Government be nsked to endow tho said company when formed with all Crown lands within tho vicinity or adjacent to the line? (i) Shall tho Wellington Municipal Corporation bo asked to subsidise such proposed East Coast Railway Company— (I) tor the now lako suburb it would acquire, and (2) for an inexhaustible supply ofgood, fte3h water it would got for tiio tuwn, through (ho Waiuiii tunnel? (j) Is Wellington's-future opening of its East Const hinds and tunnelling out on the level to be subject to tho views of railway experts taking tho lines, over tho ranges, as of old, or (.ball experts conform, in lejson. to tho real requirements of tin? capital city, in orde. , ' to placo it in exactly a similar

position to Christchurcli, which tunnelled through to Lyttclton? Big schemes aro in tho air, arid the congress will form an admirable means for acquainting members of Parliament' with tho merits of tho various projects for development in which tho southern portion of tho North Island is specially iiitorcstcd.

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